promises

The Pledge of Heaven

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Father, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. – Psalm 138:8

There is given to us, when we are regenerated, the very same life which we are to live forever in heaven. We have now the root, the bulb, the seed, out of which immortality and perfection will most surely grow; we may not yet be perfect, but we have that which will come to perfection. We have within us a new nature, which cannot sin, because it is born of God; and this will gradually overcome the old nature, as the Israelites drove out the Canaanites, and we shall be perfect before the throne of the Most High. A man may have, in a very small room, a whole field of wheat lying in embryo, in the seed which is to be sown in the springtime, and reaped in the autumn; and we have, in the gift of God’s grace, all heaven in embryo, in the seeds of faith and love, and the work of the Holy Spirit within our souls… So, the Holy Spirit is the Divine Person who virtually puts heaven into us, and makes us fit to be in the heaven which Christ has gone to prepare for us. What a mercy it is to have the witness of the Holy Spirit, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Heavenly Father, to have aspirations after holiness which we never had in our unregenerate state! All this is the pledge of heaven; and in having the pledge, we have practically the salvation itself. The Holy Spirit would not have come into our hearts, and given us all these blessings, if He had not meant to “perfect that which concerneth us,” and to save us in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2770.cfm

 

Salvation is a Present Thing

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

“Thy faith hath saved thee.” – Luke 7:48

“Thy faith hath saved thee.” This is something that is already accomplished. You are saved; not, you shall be saved; but you are even now in possession of the priceless boon of salvation: “Thy faith hath saved thee.” All through the Scriptures, and especially in the New Testament, it is plainly asserted that believers in Christ are already in possession of salvation… All that was necessary to save them from the result of sin has been endured by the Lord Jesus Christ. He has ransomed them by His death upon the cross. He has stood in their stead, and borne their sin in His own body on the tree, and suffered the full penalty for it. He has finished the transgression, and made an end of sin, and made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in for them everlasting righteousness; so that they are saved. The great work of their salvation was completed by Christ upon the cross when He laid down His life for them, and now they are “bought with a price,” even “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who cannot lie, hath declared “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” … we accept God’s promise of salvation as being just as sure as the salvation itself. Paul tells us that God’s promise has been confirmed by an oath, “that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2770.cfm

Thy Faith Hath Saved Thee, Go in Peace

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

And He said unto her, “Thy sins are forgiven.” “Go in peace.”- Luke 7:48,50

He spoke to the woman these gracious words, “Thy sins are forgiven.” Oh, how they must have dropped like dew into her poor soul! How she must have been refreshed by them! She, who was a sinner, a great sinner, a public sinner–ay, a professional sinner! hears her Saviour say to her, “Thy sins are forgiven.” The absolution pronounced by the man who calls himself a priest is utterly worthless; but it would be worth while to give a thousand worlds, if we had them, for absolution from our great High Priest! Yes, He who knew all about the woman’s sin, He who had power on earth to forgive sins, had said to her, “Thy sins are forgiven.” Was not that enough for her? Would not that short sentence set all the bells of her heart ringing as long as ever she lived?

Ay, but there was still more to follow, for the Lord spoke to her a second time, and said, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” So she was not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but she was also delivered from the power of sin. Her faith had saved her; she was a saved woman, so she might go in peace. Now she is enjoying the sunlight of full assurance, the bright clear noontide of acknowledged acceptance: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” Some of us have this great blessing, and we rejoice in it; but if others of you have not come quite so far on the heavenly road, do not begin murmuring, or doubting. Bless the Lord Jesus Christ for any favour that He has shown to you, a poor unworthy sinner; and if you have even the faintest ray of light, pray Him to make your path like that of the just, which “shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” If you have received any token for good from your Lord, be thankful for it, and expect ere long to hear in your soul the sweet music of this gracious word, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2770.cfm

Accepted by Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

“Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”- Luke 7:50

There had, doubtless, been a work of the Spirit of God upon that woman’s heart, turning her from her sin to her Saviour… When the copious tears from her eyes fell upon His feet, He did not withdraw them. When those feet were wiped with the luxuriant tresses of her hair, still He did not withdraw them; and when she ventured upon a yet closer familiarity, and not only kissed His feet, but did not cease to kiss them, He still did not withdraw them, but quietly accepted all that she did. And when the precious ointment was poured in lavish abundance upon those precious feet of His, He did not upbraid her, He did not refuse her gifts, but tacitly accepted them, though without a word of acknowledgment just then. And I think it is a very blessed thing for any one of you to be accepted before God, even though no word has come from His lips assuring you that it is so. When your tears, and cries, and secret love, and earnest seeking,–when your confession of sin, your struggle after faith, and the dawnings of your faith are just accepted by the Lord, though as yet He has not said to you, “Thy sins are forgiven thee,” it is a very blessed stage for you to have reached, for the Lord does not begin to accept anyone, even by a silence which means consent, and then draw back. He accepted this woman’s love and gifts, though, for a time, He gave her no assurance of that acceptance, and that fact must have greatly cheered her. When Simon’s evil thoughts had condemned her, and her Lord also, Jesus spoke that wonderful parable which set forth the greatness of this woman’s love, and justified the extraordinary way in which she manifested it. Christ did not speak to her, but He spoke up for her; and such action as that should be quite sufficient to stay the soul of a believer in Him. What though my Lord has not revealed Himself to me, He has revealed Himself to the Father for me. What if He has not spoken to me? Yet, if He has spoken to God on my behalf -if He has spoken in the Scriptures in defence of poor sinners, and advocated their cause in the High Court of Heaven, then how thankful I may be, and how thankful they may be! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2770.cfm

God is Bound to Love and His Covenant

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you… – Matthew 7:7

On the throne of grace sovereignty has placed itself under bonds of love. God will do as He wills; but, on the mercy seat, He is under bonds-bonds of His own making, for He has entered into covenant with Christ, and so into covenant with His chosen. When I come to God in Christ, to God on the mercy seat, I need not imagine that by any act of sovereignty God will set aside His covenant. That cannot be: it is impossible… The covenant contains in it many gracious promises, exceeding great and precious. “Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” Until God had said that word or a word to that effect, it was at His own option to hear prayer or not, but it is not so now; for now, if it be true prayer offered through Jesus Christ, His truth binds Him to hear it. A man may be perfectly free, but the moment he makes a promise, he is not free to break it; and the everlasting God wants not to break His promise. He delights to fulfill it. He hath declared that all His promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus; but, for our consolation when we survey God under the high and terrible aspect of a sovereign, we have this to reflect on, that He is under covenant bonds of promise to be faithful to the souls that seek Him. His throne must be a throne of grace to His people. And sweetest thought of all, every covenant promise has been endorsed and sealed with blood, and far be it from the everlasting God to pour scorn upon the blood of His dear Son… It is not possible that we can plead in vain with God when we plead the blood-sealed covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the power of the blood of Jesus with God can never fail. It speaks when we are silent, and it prevails when we are defeated. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1024.cfm

I Will Have Mercy on That Sinner

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:16

The mercy seat is a throne; though grace is there, it is still a throne. Grace does not displace sovereignty. Now, the attribute of sovereignty is very high and terrible; its light is like unto a jasper stone, most precious, and like unto a sapphire stone, or, as Ezekiel calls it, “the terrible crystal.” Thus saith the King, the Lord of hosts: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” “Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus?” “Hath not the potter power over the clay to make of the same lump one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour?” These are great and terrible words, and are not to be answered. He is a King, and He will do as He wills. None shall stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou? But, ah! lest any of you should be downcast by the thought of His sovereignty, I invite you to the text. It is a throne,-there is sovereignty; but to every soul that knows how to pray, to every soul that by faith comes to Jesus, the true mercy seat, divine sovereignty wears no dark and terrible aspect, but is full of love. It is a throne of grace; from which I gather that the sovereignty of God to a believer, to a pleader, to one who comes to God in Christ, is always exercised in pure grace. To you, to you who come to God in prayer, the sovereignty always runs thus: “I will have mercy on that sinner; though he deserves it not, though in him there is no merit, yet because I can do as I will with My own, I will bless him, I will make him My child, I will accept him; he shall be Mine in the day when I make up My jewels.” On the mercy seat God never executed sovereignty otherwise than in a way of grace. He reigns, but in this case grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1024.cfm

Grace Enthroned

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…the throne of grace… – Hebrews 4:16

Grace is enthroned this day, brethren, because Christ has finished His work and gone into the heavens. It is enthroned in power. When we speak of its throne, we mean that it has unlimited might. Grace sits not on the footstool of God; grace stands not in the courts of God, but it sits on the throne; it is the regnant attribute; it is the king to-day. This is the dispensation of grace, the year of grace: grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. We live in the era of reigning grace, for seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for the sons of men, Jesus is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. Sinner, if you were to meet grace in the by-way, like a traveller on his journey, I would bid you make its acquaintance and ask its influence; if you should meet grace as a merchant on the exchange, with treasure in his hand, I would bid you court its friendship, it will enrich you in the hour of poverty; if you should see grace as one of the peers of heaven, highly exalted, I would bid you seek to get its ear; but, oh, when grace sits on the throne, I beseech you close in with it at once. It can be no higher, it can be no greater, for it is written “God is love,” which is an alias for grace. Oh, come and bow before it; come and adore the infinite mercy and grace of God. Doubt not, halt not, hesitate not. Grace is reigning; grace is God; God is love. Oh that you, seeing grace is thus enthroned, would come and receive it. I say, then, that grace is enthroned by conquest, by right, and by power, and, I will add, it is enthroned in glory, for God glorifies His grace. It is one of his objects now to make His grace illustrious. He delights to pardon penitents, and so to show His pardoning grace; He delights to look upon wanderers and restore them, to show His reclaiming grace; He delights to look upon the broken-hearted and comfort them, that He may show His consoling grace. O happy souls that can believe this and believing it can come at once and glorify grace by becoming instances of its power. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1024.cfm